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Went to play and beat Illusion of Gaia after around ten years and I was left with one of the shittier endings I can recall for a pretty ok game. The porcine self-immolation(and the follow-up quote) was the highlight of the game by far.

Gunstar Heroes is still as good as I remember it being, but sadly I can not say the same for the Genesis version of Sunset Riders. Ugh. Speaking of Gunstar Heroes, I'm not sure I could pick between it and Metal Slug 3 if I was only allowed one of them.

I've had Fatal Frame 2 recomended to me as a worthwhile game, anybody have any comments on it?

Ino is such a cheap bitch on Guilty Gear XX sometimes.

Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap would be one of the better Zeldas if it were only a tad longer (and punished you for falling off ledges).

My opinion that Phantasy Star 4 was the only worthwhile game in the series to play today was further cemented after playing Phantasy Star Collection.

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Gunstar Heroes is still as good as I remember it being, but sadly I can not say the same for the Genesis version of Sunset Riders. Ugh. Speaking of Gunstar Heroes, I'm not sure I could pick between it and Metal Slug 3 if I was only allowed one of them.

Good call, I love Gunstar Heroes. I still laugh whenever the Great Final Soldier (complete with LOVE LOVE ATTACK) comes on the screen.

SimGolf is a perfect example on how far a game can go on gameplay and nothing else. Said gameplay is fantastic, but the graphics are mediocre, there's lots of glitches, and the AI is insanely dumb. Still, you can't say too many bad things about a game that allows you to lay down fairway squares to the tune of "Jesus, Joy of Man's Desiring".

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Illusion of Gaia is like the Xenogears of the 16-bit era. I vaguely remember wading through tons of text and being bored out of my skull while doing it. This was back when I could tolerate that, too.

I've got a Fatal Frame 2 sitting in a box in my closet that I'm holding onto for a friend. I'd give it a play through, but I've not got around to it yet and I'm working all weekend.

Since I've played Minish Cap as it should be played--in bite-size chunks of playtime, I've yet to finish it. I think I'm pretty close, though. My issue with it is that the kinstone fusing can be really repetitive. It's overdoing it a bit to have to fuse some, so you can collect more kinstones to fuse more, etc.

The early Phantasy Stars would be improved immensely with a better translation, and the ability to view and compare stats on items in shops before buying them. We're supposed to get a compilation of the revamped Phantasy Stars I, II, and IV, but I believe they having done them all over in Japan yet. However, currently PSIV still ages the best.

I've currently been playing through the GBA Castlevanias lately. Aria of Sorrow is excellent still. My main gripe about Circle of the Moon (which, unlike Symphony, Harmony, and Aria, is from a different team although it mimics the gameplay) is having to dash everywhere, because you start out just walking everywhere. Oddly, it's the only 2D CV I can think of where not only do you not collect money (which was just for points back in the old days), but you don't get a recharge orb after beating a boss.

I'm not liking Harmony these days. The controls suck. The music sucks. The whip is too short. The spell-book + subweapon setup is sort of similar to the DSS system, but instead of using a subweapon and any spell at will, you have to use one or the other and flick stuff off and on and pause menu. The boss AI is extremely retarded in Harmony, and making bosses take tons and tons of whip lashes to defeat isn't the same as making them smarter. And while it was obviously done to make it easier to see vs. Circle, the colors are really friggin' ugly, even compared to the sometimes fruity-looking Metroid Fusion.

Speaking of which, I used to slag Fusion, but I like it a lot now. It's a great game, linearity aside. However, Zero Mission still blows, IMO.

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You know who gets a lot of shit nowadays and really doesn't deserve most of it? Ted Woolsey. In regards to Final Fantasy 3 at least. FF3 had originally been translated in much the same manner as FF2, which wasn't a good thing (I've heard nearing Zelda 1 bad), until one of the makers of the game heard about it and demanded that a new translator was hired. Enter Ted Woolsey, a university student, whose first job for Square was to totally retranslate FF3 in less than a month by himself, while I believe he was also working on another game.

Even upon successfully doing so, 75% of the translation had to be cut down to fit both Nintendo's strict guidelines and cartridge space, as well as dumbed down to better fit the younger demographic US games had at that time . And really, think about when the game came out and compare the translation to others of that time and you will see how far Woolsey still managed to raise the bar. FF3's translation still blows away FF7's, and you can really see how rough it is in comparison (“Beacause you’re a puppet”, "This guy are sick", and "You're a Turks"). FF7 was the crossover hit that made RPG’s a high selling item and increased the amount of resources available for translation and space, so coming down on Ted for not having the resources of today back then is silly. I don’t know much about the other games he translated, but don’t be hatin’ on FF3’s, it could have ended up like this.

That all being said, I just recently started playing the 3 years in the making fan translation of the Japanese version and I’m digging the few new bits that pop up here and there(especially with Locke/Lock and the foreshadowing of Rachael), along with the slightly bumped up difficulty.

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"You know who gets a lot of shit nowadays and really doesn't deserve most of it? Ted Woolsey."

I've always thought so, but there's no reasoning with a lot of "enlightened" RPG fans who seem to lack the understanding that the 16-bit era was a vastly different time, and that the censorship/localization of games are going to reflect that.

Yeah, FF7's translation blew. They went out of there way to recreate the basic text display so they could fit in all the names, etc., so there's little excuse for it.

I assume those are "console-tans" in the above picture?

Speaking of Woolsey, I'm reminded of Spencer Nielson, the SoA music composer who did the music for Ecco and composed some of the music for the US version of Sonic CD. You'll hear plenty of people cry how he "raped" the US version.

I actually liked a lot of the Sonic CD tracks, and considering that the (unchanged) "Past" tracks are extremely boring, and nowhere near as memorable as much of the other music in the series, I'm not too upset.

Sonic Boom vs. Toot-toot Sonic Warrior--sorry, I prefer Sonic Boom, despite it being cheesy as hell, and Sonic Warrior being catchy. However, I'm more of a rock/metal fan than I am techno anyway, so it fits in well with my tastes.

Renegade actually owns the European Sonic CD (which has the same music) though, so he'd probably be the best to compare/contrast.

Do people still go to arcades? My friends work at an arcade in omaha(knickel-a-play) and I've been there many times. It seems nobody is ever in there. I was just wondering if arcades are still big with people over 10 yrs old? Maybe it's just omaha, or the shittiness of the arcade, i don't know?

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In the next few days, I will have more gaming time than usual. I have a few games I've barely started and some that are unopened, so which one should I dedicate my time to? I intend on beating or making significant progress on at least one title. The polls are now open:

Jade Empire- 5 hours in, at Tien's Landing.

Psychonauts- Haven't started.

Star Wars: KOTOR- Haven't opened. I know I won't be able to finish this quickly, though. Not by a long shot.

Resident Evil 4- Played 2 and a half hours, quit. I loved the game, though.

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I must have a dozen games in my collection that I bought months ago, but still haven't played with. I'm instead playing with the same games that I played with 10-11 years ago ( like Sonic Mega Collection and Mega Man ) instead of current ones.

I pre-ordered the collector's edition of RE4 in January. Before playing it, I wanted to go through all the series. I gave up at Code Veronica because, with Zero still to go, I was sick of those games. So I lost the hype and still haven't played with it, what a way to waste money huh ?

Online cheaters in Socom II can lick my balls.

Game of the moment is Fight Night Round 2, great game but CPU uses too much haymakers.

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Guest Askewniverse

Guest Askewniverse

I regret selling my copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had 100 Skulltullas, all heart containers, all items (including the Biggoron Sword), and caught a really big fish without using the sinking lure.

I still can't beat the speed bike stage in Battletoads (NES).

I loathe the Batmobile stage in The Adventures of Batman and Robin (SNES). One little mistake can cause you to fail.

Dracula is a damn pushover in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. In every other Castlevania game, Dracula is relatively hard.

Pet peeve: games in which your character gets knocked backward after taking a hit. It's especially annoying when the hit causes you to fall off a platform.

Pet peeve #2: stages that require a series of perfectly-executed jumps.

Why hasn't there been another sequel to Zombies Ate My Neighbors?

What's so great about Final Fantasy VII? Will fanboys (and fangirls) ever stop calling it the best game ever?

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The never again mentioned Prince of Hyrule (Zelda's brother) is a jerk.

"Prince of Hyrule- The Prince of Hyrule was always a spoiled, and bad-tempered person. He had always dreamt of being king, so when his father died, he was overjoyed. He than talked to Zelda about the whereabouts of the Triforce. She refused to tell, and was beatn and tortured, even put into an eternal sleep by an Evil Wizard hired hy the prince. When the prince realized the horrid acts he had done, he vowed that all of the daughters of the royal family be named after Zelda."

Arcades haven't been extremely popular in a long time. I think it's because the 2D fighter boom and the 3D fighter boom have both come and gone, we have systems that offer experiences nearly identical to the home, and even when arcade machines offer high-quality games that offer a fairly unique experience--i.e. DDR, those willing to shell out the cash can often get a peripheral to mimic the experience.

You still hear about the occasional fighting game tournaments in areas like NY, LA, and other major cities where players get the opportunity to play against lots of human players.

Even so, except for Tekken 5, I think the major tourney fighters are "old" games like Tekken Tag, MvC2, Third Strike, etc.

I regret selling my copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had 100 Skulltullas, all heart containers, all items (including the Biggoron Sword), and caught a really big fish without using the sinking lure.

You've got nearly 6 months to get another copy and get crackin'.

I may start another game on my newly-acquired gold cartridge. If nothing else, I can geek out by playing with the glitches and not worry about risking the game on my gray one.

I loathe the Batmobile stage in The Adventures of Batman and Robin (SNES). One little mistake can cause you to fail.

At least it's relatively short. Once you have the password you can skip it, thank goodness.

Pet peeve: games in which your character gets knocked backward after taking a hit. It's especially annoying when the hit causes you to fall off a platform.

Medusa heads are really screwing me over through my run through the NES Classic Castlevania, so yeah, know what ya mean.

Bottomless pits are one aspect from 8-bit and 16-bit games I've never been welcome to see return.

What's so great about Final Fantasy VII? Will fanboys (and fangirls) ever stop calling it the best game ever?

It was some people's first ever RPG, and came after a huge RPG drought. Hardly any worthy games but Suikoden filled the gap between 16 and 32 bit. It had much higher production values than any RPG that came before it. That and dab of nostalgia = gr8est game ever in some people's minds.

Now, something I stole from somebody's site and kind of paraphrased:

I think "replay value" in games are overrated, and the amount of hours to complete a game shouldn't really be boasted as a feature. A good 3D action game may have fantastic gameplay, be brimming with secrets, boast 15 hours or so of gameplay, etc, but are you going to really enjoy it if you're often limited to playing it in half-hour chunks? Very few adults have time to take 4 hour gaming sessions. A half hour of Super Metroid (unprepped, no speed run guides, etc) will still let you enjoy plenty of gameplay. It's enough time to get through the opening section of Metroid Prime, but after that, making progress is going to be relatively slow.

Katamari Damacy likely is a big hit with so many old school gamers because you can pack in a ton of gameplay in a relatively short timespan. But it lends itself very well to playing over again because it's so damn fun. Like Metroid, once you have a feel for it, you can go back, do it better, quicker--without having go drudge through 10 hours of junk first.

Another of many reasons I find most RPGs to be pure torture. When I was a kid getting off from school I had all the time I needed to conquer RPGs. Very few RPGs offer the ability to just enjoy playing without worrying about leveling up, save for a handful like Chrono Trigger and the Mario RPGs.

Doesn't make them better RPGs, just geared more towards my tastes.

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Guest Askewniverse

Guest Askewniverse

I regret selling my copy of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I had 100 Skulltullas, all heart containers, all items (including the Biggoron Sword), and caught a really big fish without using the sinking lure.